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Episode 688: Success Without Strikeouts, Strange-Looking Lineups, and Other Emails
Date June 4, 2015 Summary Ben and Sam discuss their schedule and answer emails about rebellious players, pitching to contact, coaching catchers, and more. Topics * Increased rate of long home runs * Players leveraging authority * Coaching catchers and impact of coaches * Success without strikeouts * Strange lineup positions * Revisiting the PED era with Statcast insights * Throwing gloves and hats at the ball Intro Elton John, "I'm Still Standing" Banter Ben and Sam have been busy with the Stompers season, leading to the somewhat irregular podcast schedule. Email Questions * Jerome: "Has their been an inordinate amount of deep bombs hit this season? Do you suspect any cause for these long home runs so far in 2015? I looked yesterday and their had been 30 home runs of at least 450 feet hit." * Matthew: "Imagine that at the end of Mike Trout's first Major League season he'd said 'I want more money. I have my signing bonus, I don't need to play to be financially comfortable. Unless you pay me more I will retire.' What would happen? Are there clauses attached to signing bonuses that prevent this from happening? If there aren't, and if you as a team genuinely believe that the player will follow through then surely you ought to be willing to pay the player anything up to the risk adjusted cost per win that they're worth. Why doesn't this happen?" * Nick: "What would happen if a pitcher refused to leave the mound when the manager goes to pull him? Does the umpire have the authority to eject a player for this? Would his teammates forcibly remove him from the mound? Also who is the most likely pitcher to try and stay on the mound in direct defiance of the coach and potentially fight his teammates?" * Matthew: "Gentlemen, you let Mike Scioscia off the hook for his treatment of Mike Napoli far too easily. Yes, Jeff Mathis was the superior game-called by roughly 40 runs over three seasons, so Scioscia was correct in his assessment of players. However, is the job of a coach to accurately asses players or to help them improve? Obviously coaches aren't miracle workers and we generally view them as having marginal impact on changing player's true talent. However Harry Pavlidis let slip that Napoli improved his game calling by 30 runs from his final season with the Angels to the next season in Texas. That suggests that Napoli had some hidden potential to be a solid game caller and catching guru Scioscia was unable to unlock that potential. That brings me to two questions: How much do you blame Scioscia for not getting more game calling value out of Napoli, and what individual baseball skills do play the largest role in forming for their players?" * Cody: "Much has been made about Michael Wacha's success this year despite a very low K rate. People around the team claim that he's working on new pitches (cutter and curveball) and that's why he's not striking people out as much. His low ERA is because of his soft contact allowed due to the cutter. While the soft contact is measurable and true, the working on pitches explanation for low K rate seems like a team searching for positives in a negative situation. Does it seem reasonable that Wacha has some special ability to throw better pitches at key times? It seems to me that he's just been pretty lucky so far." * Andy: "I feel it's fairly accepted that steroids equal more muscle mass equal more strength. The final translation of more strength equals better offense could have been a little more blurry (still doesn't make you recognize pitches better, still doesn't make you square up the ball better, still doesn't make you actually hit the ball) but I don't think the argument was ever that it wouldn't make you hit the ball harder if you actually hit the ball. It seems like the new information we have from Statcast this season links the two directly. More strength equals increased batted ball speed when you make contact equals better offensive players. It doesn't make you see the ball better, etc. but who cares? If someone can hit the ball harder they will get better and it sounds like a couple MPH make a big difference in OPS. Does this give us more insight into the PED era?" * Nick: "Why don't outfielders try to throw their gloves at home run balls?" Play Index * Sam attended a recent Pacific Association game between the Vallejo Admirals vs. San Rafael Pacifics. In the game the Admirals had their catcher batting 2nd and their DH batting 8th. * Sam used the Play Index to look up strange lineup positions and how teams performed in those situations. * There have been approximately 22,000 games where a second baseman batted 3rd. Those teams are 605 games above .500. * There have been 3,500 games where the DH batted 8th. Those teams are 115 games over .500. * Teams batting their catcher 2nd are 160 games below .500. Notes * There were 50 home runs in 2014 that were 450 feet or longer. In 2015 there have already been over 30 hit. * Sam thinks the pitcher most likely to defy his manager is John Lackey. * In Episode 686 Ben and Sam discussed the introduction of game-calling statistics and value with Harry Pavlidis. * Andy's email is based off a conversation Ben and Sam had with Rob Arthur in Episode 678. * In Episode 284 Ben and Sam discussed the penalties for throwing gloves or hats at a ball in play. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 688: Success Without Strikeouts, Strange-Looking Lineups, and Other Emails Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes